Reviews for Radioactive Waste Repository Licensing: Synopsis of a Symposium

The average rating for Radioactive Waste Repository Licensing: Synopsis of a Symposium based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-08-28 00:00:00 Margaret Mckay I'm a grad student in nuclear engineering and was hoping to understand more science about the repository. Although there are definitely a few things to be learned from the mish-mash of articles this book presents, there is not a consistent focus between them, nor is there a consistent viewpoint presented. Some of the authors clearly believe there is in fact not a tremendous amount of uncertainty about the piece of the physics of Yucca Mountain they studied. Others outright called out DOE analyses of the cite as blatantly incorrect. Well, that's not really a study of uncertainty underground. Some authors definitely let their political viewpoints leak into what is supposed to be a subjective investigation of the site. Although, these leanings are likely due to the already-politicized DOE studies on the site, particularly ones on groundwater flow. Luckily, the book has a massive collection of references to DOE reports and literature on the Yucca site, so it's certainly a good jumping off point to understanding Yucca in-depth. The book also generally summarizes the pieces of science that feed into the repository evaluation well. Strangely enough, at the end, MacFarlane essentially states that we should give up on trusting the computer models developed by scientists and instead make a decision by comparing the characteristics of Yucca to other worldwide planned nuclear waste repositories. I don't think her position on that is well-motivated considering that many of the authors professed evidence which show that the general physics of the repository is very well-understood, it's just that there are a few pieces missing here and there which are uncertain such as corrosion of waste packages over long time scales. So, I would give this three stars if it weren't for MacFarlane's (in my view) somewhat badly reasoned opinion at the end of the book. At the end of it, I feel like there is something missing on my knowledge of the site. Maybe that's the point of the book.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-09-01 00:00:00 Justin Lyga This is a collection of articles (around 10-15 pages each) related to the siting of a geologic repository for the nation's spent nuclear fuel. I read most (skimmed the rest) of the articles whilst writing a paper on legal issues surrounding the interim storage of SNF. This work definitely succeeds in showing the positives and negatives of a high-level waste repository at Yucca Mountain and it is particularly applicable to read it now, when the Obama administration is attempting to block the funding for continued work at the site. Though I am still undecided about what the ultimate solution should be for our humongous storage problem, this problem won't be going away anytime soon. I mean, Yucca Mountain was supposed to open in 1998 and last time I checked it was/is 2010. I don't see the relevance of this book dissipating in the near future.